The ant and the grasshopper

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
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*MODERN VERSION:*

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall over come." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry claim that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant. The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be
the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*MODERN VERSION:*

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall over come." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry claim that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant. The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be
the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote!

If you're trying to say that people who suffer in life suffer because they "laugh and dance and play the summer away" is a very simplistic way to look at poverty and at what causes it.

The idea that poor people are inherently lazy is not necessarily true. Granted there are some who are and there are govt programs that tend to enable such behaviors in such people. To make a widespread assumption of a wide group of people would be quite a mistake.

If you're trying to say that people who suffer in life suffer because they "laugh and dance and play the summer away" is a very simplistic way to look at poverty and at what causes it.

The idea that poor people are inherently lazy is not necessarily true. Granted there are some who are and there are govt programs that tend to enable such behaviors in such people. To make a widespread assumption of a wide group of people would be quite a mistake.

Ahhh, but that's what the right does-- they pick out the absolute worst in any demographic, and hold them up as the poster child for the demo... which leads to folks thinking that everybody accepting government help is too lazy to work, just manipulating the system...

This does a disservice to those HONEST poor folk who are getting help to get by, as they struggle to make ends meet... yes, there are some people who "work the system" to get something for nothing, but no matter how the right would have you believe they're the norm, they're simply not...

The system could be tweaked to make it more difficult for the lazy to live on the dole, but throwing out the baby with the bath water is particularly stupid in this situation...

Then again, neocons don't want the government doing ANYTHING to help the disadvantaged... they want tax revenues going to build bombers and tanks, not helping single mothers feed their families...

Ahhh, but that's what the right does-- they pick out the absolute worst in any demographic, and hold them up as the poster child for the demo... which leads to folks thinking that everybody accepting government help is too lazy to work, just manipulating the system...

This does a disservice to those HONEST poor folk who are getting help to get by, as they struggle to make ends meet... yes, there are some people who "work the system" to get something for nothing, but no matter how the right would have you believe they're the norm, they're simply not...

The system could be tweaked to make it more difficult for the lazy to live on the dole, but throwing out the baby with the bath water is particularly stupid in this situation...

Then again, neocons don't want the government doing ANYTHING to help the disadvantaged... they want tax revenues going to build bombers and tanks, not helping single mothers feed their families...

That's probably the most frustrating part of politics for me. Instead of taking an in-depth look at social problems, these issues that deserve a long look are reduced to sound bites, talking points that stifle innovative thinking and various parts of the issue being blown out of proportion.

That's probably the most frustrating part of politics for me. Instead of taking an in-depth look at social problems, these issues that deserve a long look are reduced to sound bites, talking points that stifle innovative thinking and various parts of the issue being blown out of proportion.

Mel Brooks told the whole world what politics is really all about in the movie "Blazing Saddles", when in his role as Governor LePetomaine, he proclaimed "we've gotta save our phoney-baloney jobs"...

So long as money alone determines who gets elected, we'll never have politicians who attempt to grapple with our real problems in a serious manner...

If you're trying to say that people who suffer in life suffer because they "laugh and dance and play the summer away" is a very simplistic way to look at poverty and at what causes it.

The idea that poor people are inherently lazy is not necessarily true. Granted there are some who are and there are govt programs that tend to enable such behaviors in such people. To make a widespread assumption of a wide group of people would be quite a mistake.

People are long term poor because they choose to be for the most part.

Show me a person who chose to at least complete their free education, choses to show up to work everyday, choses to work hard and choses not to put foreign substances in their body and I'll show you employers clamoring to hire that person at a decent wage.

People are long term poor because they choose to be for the most part.

Show me a person who chose to at least complete their free education, choses to show up to work everyday, choses to work hard and choses not to put foreign substances in their body and I'll show you employers clamoring to hire that person at a decent wage.

I have known MANY people like that. And if you have not known anyone like that I guess you must have had a good life and hung around others with a good life.

Seriously There are MANY MANY MANY people that work their fingers to the bone, that do not take drugs, that are good clean people...but they just are poor.

I have known MANY people like that. And if you have not known anyone like that I guess you must have had a good life and hung around others with a good life.

Seriously There are MANY MANY MANY people that work their fingers to the bone, that do not take drugs, that are good clean people...but they just are poor.

You're in West Virginia.

I guess that depends on what your defintion of poor is. I don't know anyone personally who couldn't afford a roof over their head, food on the table and a toilet that flushes if they choose to rather than beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

I guess that depends on what your defintion of poor is. I don't know anyone personally who couldn't afford a roof over their head, food on the table and a toilet that flushes if they choose to rather than beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

West Virginia is a good point. There are many states like it. Louisiana is another one.

The jobs are limited and if you can't just say...move to another areas, because people don't have the money to buy a new place, move to the new place while waiting to start a new job.

Look the majority of people who are poor might bring it on themselves. I just hate hearing people with the attitude that you are poor because you are lazy when that is not always the case.

Most people work their butts off to provide for their families and they are just making payments. ONE thing can happen and it can throw that into total chaos. A person get's injured and can not work. A person in the family gets injured and the medical bills are overwhelming. A person who works dies and the spouse and children are left hurting financially.

There are many factors for many people that one thing can happen and they are in serious trouble no matter how hard they try.

Poor people are not just lazy people on welfare who refuse to work. There are hard working Americans in many parts of the USA that work hard but just don't have the same financial stability of others. It does not mean they are lazy. If anything it is the opposite because many know they are not having a glamorous life, many would rather be doing many other things, but they keep working at a job they may hate because they have a responsibility to provide for their family.

Æsop. [SIZE=-1](Sixth century [SIZE=-1]B.C.[/SIZE])[/SIZE] Fables.
The Harvard Classics. [SIZE=-1]1909–14.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]The Ant and the Grasshopper[/SIZE] I[SIZE=-1]N[/SIZE] a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.[SIZE=-2] 1[/SIZE] “Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”[SIZE=-2] 2[/SIZE] “I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”[SIZE=-2] 3[/SIZE] “Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got plenty of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:
[SIZE=-1]“IT IS BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DAYS OF NECESSITY.”[/SIZE]

The moral of the story is not to cast aspersion upon the poor. If that is all you took from it, then you have not read the original fable. The moral of the revised story is not to depend on the government and to be careful what type of leaders you elect to that government. My point in posting it was to say "I don't want to pay for the people that don't do for themselves." As I have stated in other posts, I think we should be giving hand ups, not hand outs.

The moral of the story is not to cast aspersion upon the poor. If that is all you took from it, then you have not read the original fable. The moral of the revised story is not to depend on the government and to be careful what type of leaders you elect to that government. My point in posting it was to say "I don't want to pay for the people that don't do for themselves." As I have stated in other posts, I think we should be giving hand ups, not hand outs.

Welfare, in it's true intention, is to be a hand up and not a hand out.

I have known MANY people like that. And if you have not known anyone like that I guess you must have had a good life and hung around others with a good life.

Seriously There are MANY MANY MANY people that work their fingers to the bone, that do not take drugs, that are good clean people...but they just are poor.

At the hotel I work at, we just lost a lady JUST like that... our executive housekeeper, as hard-working a woman as you'd ever want to meet... her and her husband both, and they never had two nickels to rub together...

Even when Debbie was so weakened from chemotherapy that she could barely drag herself upright, she showed up for work, and refused to let anybody, even the owner, tell her to go home... when they coined the term "salt of the earth", they were talking about her and her family...

In fact, just about all the folks I work with are the same way-- honest, hard-working, next best thing to broke...

Most who are poor and work hard do not have the education or training to get a better job. That is where the government SHOULD pinpoint its efforts.
But the massive drain welfare and the rest has- and the political inability to do something about that- prevents it. Anyone who tries to change things is called a racist, etc.

Most who are poor and work hard do not have the education or training to get a better job. That is where the government SHOULD pinpoint its efforts.
But the massive drain welfare and the rest has- and the political inability to do something about that- prevents it. Anyone who tries to change things is called a racist, etc.

This goes back to a point I made about welfare.

If someone is in that situation and uses government assistance to go to college, get a degree, or even some sort of trade school. Take that and than be able to find a good job than it is doing that it should be doing. Giving them a hand up.

Those that would rather sit home, collect food stamps when they are able to work are a completely different thing.